The Windsinger - William Nicholson

The opening chapters may make this seem to be simply a satire on the extreme value sometimes placed on a certain form of education, but it swiftly becomes something far broader and more imaginative. Kestrel and her twin brother Bowman are citizens of Aramanth, a mysterious walled city in which exams determine everything, from where people live, to how they dress, to their ambitions. Essentially, Kestrel rebels against the ethos of Aramanth and then refuses to accept the awful punishment that the Chief Examiner has planned for her. This leads her to accept that the only hope for herself, her family and her city is to retrieve the voice of the mysterious wind ...  Read the complete review

GOOD BOOK!! - Advantages: eye catching, exciting, happy - Disadvantages: ---, ---, ---

The wind singer is an excellent book about a town named Aramanth, ruled under exams.The town is set out in districts, which all depends on your family rating. When you are a baby you take a test and your score goes on your family rating, and so on through out the rest of your life. But Kestrel, member of the Hath family will not put up with these exams for much longer. She and her brother Bowman are now on the quest to find the voice of the wind singer. Because, once the wind singer sings everyone will be happy; no more exams or districts, no more family ratings. The wind singer is a structe built many years before the children, but when the emporer give Kestrel ...  Read the complete review

Have you ever known someone who recommends books and seems to know an AWFUL lot about them, only to discover they have NEVER read the books they harp on about? I do. He is a bit of a trivia-king when it comes to movies and books, giving the impression that he is seriously well-read. However, in reality he is merely well-read in reviews. What happens when someone recommends a book that turns out to be rubbish? Well, you persevere for a start – well maybe, and you persevere because you think this friend is well-read and knows a good book when they read one. So I read The Wind Singer by William Nicholson all the way through, continually hoping it would ...  Read the complete review